AAFP to Senate: Let’s Work Together to Improve the Affordable Care Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 28, 2017

Statement attributable to:
John Meigs, Jr., MD
President
American Academy of Family Physicians

“The American Academy of Family Physicians is encouraged that the U.S. Senate failed to pass health care reform legislation. This harmful legislation would have put the health of millions of Americans at risk through loss of coverage and destabilization of the health insurance market. We applaud those Senators who rejected this flawed proposal and stood up for health care coverage for people in their state.

“By removing the individual and employer mandates and making health insurance optional, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that premiums would have risen up to 20 percent with each passing year, putting affordable coverage out of reach for millions of Americans. The Senate tried to pull the rug out from under the insurance market and failed.

“The Affordable Care Act was not and is not perfect, and improvements need to be made to our health care system. Rather than pulling the foundation out from under the health insurance market, the AAFP calls on the Senate to work in a bipartisan and transparent manner to improve the ACA, not undermine it.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with Congress to improve the law on behalf of the members we serve and the millions of patients under their care. The American Academy of Family Physicians will continue our outreach to Congress to identify and implement those improvements. Again, we are much encouraged by the outcome of today’s vote.”

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 129,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Family physicians conduct approximately one in five office visits -- that’s 192 million visits annually or 48 percent more than the next most visited medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America’s underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s award-winning consumer website, www.familydoctor.org(www.familydoctor.org).